Marching In

We turn the calendar to March, and suddenly everything feels different.
The air feels softer.
The birdsong seems louder.
The garden looks more alive, even though nothing has changed since a month ago.
Except...

Crocus bloom. In the little strip between the house and the sidewalk where sedum covers the ground in orange and yellow, two little clumps of crocus sport sun-colored blooms.

Green daffodil blades erupt through the wood chip mulch.
Baby broccoli, cabbage and kale plants sit under lights in the front room. It's time to begin "hardening off" these babies, preparing them for their home in the garden.
Last night I moves panels of fencing to the garden so I can erect pea trellises today. Maybe I will plant peas today, maybe in  few days. The forecast puts us in the mid-to upper 60s (Fahrenheit) in the first half of next week.

Early forecasts had us covered in snow this past weekend, with white stuff falling all day Saturday and Sunday (March 1), and snow/rain/sleet on Monday. Snow did fall on Saturday, the last day of February, blanketing the world in a couple of inches.

But March dawned with intermittent sun that melted much of Saturday's snow. Something about saying, "it's March" made even Sunday's cold temperature seem refreshed and refreshing. Spring is almost here.

Puddles in the stones were ice last night, but that won't last under today's sun.

While wandering through the garden yesterday evening, my mind moved over the more imminent tasks -- finish cutting down last  year's growth on the sweet grass; prune, transplant and mulch the elderberries; put up pea trellises and hoops for the cabbage beds....  Excitement moved through me. I can't wait to get out and tidy and clean and check on things. Tomorrow, the plastic comes off the low tunnels under which kale has overwintered.

A couple of days ago, as dusk overtook the world, I saw three -- or maybe four -- rabbits bouncing off of each other, hopping and... playing?? It's mating season. The time of the Mad March Hare (although these are cottontail rabbits, not hares). The moon is waxing, almost full. I feel the sap rising. The energy expanding outward. Spring springing.

Hurray for March. It changes everything.